Motor fuel composition



Patented Jan. 25, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE half to Harry S. Haze, Chicago, 111.

No Drawing. Original application July '31, 1934,

Serial No. 737,857. Divided and this application May 3, 1937, Serial No. 140,566 a 2 Claims.

ternal combustion engines to afford quicker start-- ing, faster pick-up or acceleration, more power and increased mileage, smoother operation, greater flexibility of speed between extreme lengths of low and high with cooler operation than is afforded by ordinary petroleum fuel products.

Another object of the invention is to eliminate hard carbon and leave only a soft, oily or moist carbon deposit in reduced quantity.

A further object of the invention is to eifec a reduction or practically an elimination of carbon monoxide by more complete combustion than has heretofore been obtained under practical conditions of engine operation.

The invention consists in the use of a cold chemical mixture of naphthalene and acetone for mixture with various grades of petroleum and petroleum fuel products for controlling and improving the combustion qualities thereof by chemical means. The essential novelty resides in the abnormal reduction of the proportion as a whole of the combined ingredients used in conjunction with the various petroleum fuel products and an equally abnormal change in the proportion of the ingredients as related to each other in their combination and use in petroleum fuel products as compared withall previous and present practice. These abnormal changes in the two directions mentioned produce a very decisive improvement in the quality of the combustion of the petroleum fuel products treated and in motors and in motor cars produce remarkable improvements in the performance thereof, heretofore not attained and not attainable-with the greater proportions of the chemical ingredients heretofore used incombination with gasoline, naphtha and other petroleum fuel products.

Improvements in petroleum fuel products have related heretofore mostly to processes for obtaining a larger percentage of automobile fuel of lighter specific gravity and lower initial distillation point to supply the vast quantities of gasoline and motor fuel used in automobiles. Chemical treatment for the improved combustion of the refined petroleum fuel for use in motor cars from a practical standpoint in use has been restricted mostly to the addition of lead or equivalent metals in various forms to reduce or eliminate the fuel knock. One of these forms is a preparation containing tetra ethyl of lead added to the refined fuel commonly referred to as high test gasoline and giving'an increased octane rating or antiknock quality to the gasoline when used as motor fuel.

Another form embraces a mechanical device installed as an accessory to the automobile or motor vehicle and having a small chamber coated or lined with lead or in combination with other metallic ingredients and by means of tubular connections the untreated gasoline or motor fuel is passed through and in contact with the metal or metals dissolving a minute portion sufficient for treatment of the fuel to obtain the desired results in the automobile engine. The lead treatment apparently slows down the explosive action of the motor fuel, giving better combustion, smoother operation, greater anti-knock value and burns up the carbon, but creates a hotter flame and heats up the engine in operation more than the result obtained when using the untreated gasoline or motor fuel. I

It is the purpose of the present invention for automobile use to retain and add to the qualities embodied in the higher test gasoline; namely, quicker or easier starting smoother operation, faster pick-up, more power, less carbon, and also make a complete temperature reversal of the lead treatment of gasoline motor fuel, whatever the means of its application and use, by making the engine run cooler than the untreated gasoline or motor fuel, and through more perfect combustion (8) parts of acetone to one (1) part of naphthalene, by volume. To facilitate the measurement of the proportional parts of the formula, one 1) grain by weight of naphthalene is considered approximately equal to one (1) drop liquid measure of the acetone used. Previous to adding the naphthalene to the acetone, the naphthalene (1%) by volume, of the mixture is added to the petroleum fuel product to be treated. This relatively small amount of cold chemical product is much less than the fifty and fifty per cent (50 and 50%) combination and lesser large combinations heretofore employed in the mixing of said ingredients with gasoline. The formula may be varied within the said limits of one per cent (1%) maximum and one-twenty-fifth (l/) of one per cent (1%) minimum of the mixture, according to higher and lower grades of the petroleum fuel products to be treated, the lower grades requiring more of the cold chemical mixture than the higher grades.

The extremely small amount of cold chemical mixture added to the petroleum fuel products produces a more complete combustion of the fuel and reduces the temperature in engine performance instead of increasing the temperature as in the case of lead-treated gas, the reduction or elimination of carbon monoxide gas, increased mileage and smoother engine operation and the other anti-knock and fuel improvements heretofore explained, and it has been found by experience that an increasing of the proportions of the cold chemical mixture of the present invention beyond those specified is not only not beneficial but fails to obtain the novel advantages and results produced by a mixing of approximately not over one per cent (1%) and less than onetwenty-fifth (1/25) of one per cent (1%) of the mixture with the petroleum fuel products to be treated.

The result of more perfect combustion resides in an adjustment of the spark control to prevent preignition, the adjustment of the timing to the maximum limit for greater mileage and still retain coordination of the firing functions, the

proper admixture of air and the right amount of fuel to formthe best explosive mixture, coupled with a given compression and a gasoline fitted to the adjustments made.

An adjustment of the car for a particular grade of gasoline will not work to the best advantage on a different grade of gasoline and a car adjusted for anti-knock features of one grade of gasoline may knock with a different grade of gasoline on the same adjustment and yet be readjusted so that the latter gasoline or motor fuel tested will not knock and yet have no change made in the gasoline or motor fuel quality.

Thus when cars are adjusted at the factory according to laboratory equipment to satisfy the" present standard of high test gasoline or motor fuel, a readjustment on some points on the motor may be necessary to fit my treated gasoline or motor fuel and lower grades of gasoline for the best performance.

The presence of carbon monoxide in exhaust gases proves that the carbon in the gasoline and other motor fuel has been burned to some extent, to carbon monoxide, and in this form delivers less than one-third of its heat energy with consequent loss of power and waste of fuel. Aside from the economic waste, carbon monoxide is a very dangerous toxic poison resulting in frequent deaths of persons inhaling these fumes in confined places, in closed cars, garages, or any similar conditions. The additionof these deadly carbon monoxide fumes in congested districts of automotive ,vehicular traffic in towns, cities and on highways, while not fatal in their immediate effect on people compelled to breathe this vitiated air, certainly renders it inimical to their health and any practical elimination of the hazard to health makes a decided social value improvement.

The proper adjustment of air and fuel ratio with the addition of my treatment for controlled combustion clearly reduces or practically eliminates'this hazard to life of the car user.

Another factor of importance inherent with the fuel composition of the present invention resides in its harmonic operation when combined with the lead-treated gasoline whether combined with the chemically lead-treated gasoline or with the formula with the gasoline flowing through a leadcoated or treated channel or receptacle as an accessory attached to the car.

Acetone is miscible with both water and gasoline separably and is used with the large proportional mixture of alcohol where these are combined with gasoline to hold the alcohol in solution which will not mix if placed together Without some combining agent. Butyl alcohol being less refined than commercial alcohol and possessing more of the solvent elementsof acetone which is a by-product of alcohol manufacture combines more freely with the gasoline or other petroleum fuel. The lower grades of petroleum fuel hold a small amount of water in suspension and although acetone is miscible with water and petroleum fuel separably, I have found that a small amount of acetone added to petroleum fuel has the effect of precipitating or throwing out the water held in suspension in petroleum fuel. The addition of the small amount of alcohol or naphtha in the formula does not change or alter the tendency on the part of acetone to create a dry petroleum fuel practically free from water content held in suspension therein.

The cold chemical mixture applied to various grades of petroleum fuel controls and improves the combustion of the same in open flame and also in its use in internal combustion engines in the form of explosive mixtures. Its comparatively non-poisonous factors in the preparation or use is an advantage aside from the functions of the elements of the combination.

The treated petroleum fuel possesses superior advantages in its cooler and smoother operation, increased mileage, more effective operation at lower speeds and at all speeds up to and including high speeds with practical freedom from vlbra-.

tion of the engine when running. Also substantial reductionor practical elimination of carbon monoxide in exhaust gases or fumes results from the more effective combustion due to the chemical treatment of the present invention.

What is claimed is 1. A motor fuel composition composed of gasoline and approximately less than one per cent of a mixture consisting of acetone and naphthalene combined in substantially the proportions of eight parts of acetone and one part of naphthalene.

2. A liquid motor fuel composition comprising a light volatile petroleum distillate and approximately less than one per cent of a mixture composed of acetone and naphthalene combined in substantially the proportions of eight parts of acetone and one part of naphthalene.

WILL R. SAVAG 

